Eastburg district dress code mandate a split decision

EAST STROUDSBURG — The arguments, pro and con, over a standardized dress code in East Stroudsburg schools were familiar. The passions on both sides ran high.

DAN BERRETT

EAST STROUDSBURG — The arguments, pro and con, over a standardized dress code in East Stroudsburg schools were familiar. The passions on both sides ran high.

But indecision won out early Tuesday morning, as the district's school board members failed to render a final verdict on a proposed code near the end of an almost six-hour meeting.

By a 5-4 vote, the board elected to table action on a stringent dress code, which would have applied only to high school students on the North and South campuses. The meeting's stunted climax followed months of preparation and weeks of public meetings.

The vote, which took place at nearly 12:30 a.m. early Tuesday, followed about 90 minutes of public comment earlier in the evening, with additional time dedicated to orations by school board members.

Remarks came from 27 members of the public, including students, parents and teachers. Nearly two-thirds of those who spoke opposed the idea. Many did so on philosophical grounds.

"I'm surprised that people are so interested in a veneer," said James Brunkard, a board member. "To do something so simple as to constrict our plumage — all of this is not what education is about."

One student raised more core objections. "It's a form of subjugation of personal liberty," he said.

Those who supported the code included Lois Palio and Stephen Zall, principals of South and North, respectively. They said it would build school spirit and enhance safety, and presented a committee of 18 students who helped to craft the policy.

"This was the result of students feeling that a dress code would level the playing field and add an air of inclusivity," Palio said.

They showed a five-minute video on the code's virtues. Opponents derided it as one-sided, or as board member Robert Gress referred to it, a "propaganda tool."

The students on the committee wore different iterations of the dress code. If it were to take effect, it would be similar to the one now in place in Stroudsburg and one that will go into force next year in Pleasant Valley.

East Stroudsburg's code would set out standard colors and styles of clothing students would be able to wear. Pants, shorts, skorts and skirts could be khaki or black.

Shirts would have to be polo or oxford style, and could be gray, black or white. At East Stroudsburg North, students also would be able to wear Carolina blue, which is one of the school's colors. At South, they could don purple.

Layering garments, such as sweater vests, pullovers and fleeces, also would be allowed in the permitted colors

Proponents said the variety allowed under the code left room for individual expression. They said the code was needed because the current one is too subjective.

Board member William Searfoss focused on one word in the current code — that the students dress modestly.

"Modest? Whose interpretation should we use? The Pope's? Some rapper's?" Searfoss asked. "Where does that leave modesty when you have children walking around with their boxers and half their butts sticking out?"

One teacher and coach had more practical concerns.

"If I see cleavage, how do I deal with that?" Bob Wilson asked. He said if he disciplined a female student for wearing revealing clothes, it could create an uncomfortable situation for them both.

"I don't want to put myself in that position," he said.

But opponents also worried about the economic effects on financially strapped parents struggling during a recession.

"I think you're underestimating the impact on people who can't afford it," one resident said. "This is a tough time economically, and clothing for school may not be in the works."

Jim Crompton, owner of a clothing store in East Stroudsburg, said he could outfit students in a shirt and pants for the same price as a pair of jeans. But some parents guessed that the full cost to dress a student could run close to $200.

"No one's spent that much," Crompton replied from the audience.

Palio and Zall said that their schools would stock a closet of donated clothes for students whose families qualify for free and reduced lunch. They also say the policy will not cost the district.

But an alumna said it was costing money and time already, in the form of staff time and attention.

Voting to table the motion were Brunkard, Gress, Bet Hays and Audrey Hocker, who have reliably opposed the dress code.

Searfoss, Keith Karkut, Donald Motts and William Zacharias, who have supported the dress code, voted against the motion to table it.

The swing vote then, as now, was Horace Cole, the board president, who voted to table the measure.

It is not immediately clear what the dress code's fate will be in the future.

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